The Sword and the Sniper
by AliceIsNotInsane
Summary: With the Z virus in full swing, and one man who could save the world. A rag tag group try to cross America to get him to a lab to make the cure. But things go wrong, as they always do in the zompocolypse. But can love be found even in the darkest of times? The girl with the swords, and the sniper don't have much in common. But life finds a way. OCx10K
1. Chapter 1 Puppies And Kittens

"Hey, Alice. Alice, wake up." I opened my eyes slowly, the voice bringing me back from a rather pleasant dream about chocolate ice cream and wafers. Grumbling I slowly sat up, rubbing the remnants of sleep from my blue eyes, and tucking my long blonde hair behind my ears. Looking up I saw the smiling face of my friend, Addy. She gave my head a quick pat which I in turn grumbled yet again.

"You really aren't a morning person, are you?" Addy questioned with a smile.

"No. No I am not." I replied giving a huff, pushing myself to stand up and stretch out my aching bones. "And I never will be." I admitted, now walking over to my small fold out table. Upon said table were my weapons, two kukri knives, a standard 9mm pistol, and my favourite weapon of all, my tactical katana. The blade was black and around 24 inches long, the handle was wrapped in black cloth and a bit of rubber here and there to enhance grip. I smiled as I picked it up, holding it up to eye level so I could ensure there were no nicks or dents in the blade.

I could see Addy watching with envy as I placed all of my weapons on my body. My knives had a special holster on my lower back, making it easier to pull them out in an emergency. My pistol was simply shoved into a holster on my right hip, and my katana was sheathed across my back.

"I'm so jealous you won that sword." Addy admitted once I'd finished getting ready. I gave my friend a grin, thinking back to the bet we had made. Whoever could kill the most zombies in 20 minutes got the sword.

"I only managed two more than you, give yourself some credit." I spoke as we walked out of my tent. The sun was already high in the sky, but it never seemed to give off any warmth, not since day one of the infection. We wandered over to another tent, this one belonged to Addy and Mack.

"Hey Mack, you ready to go?" Addy called into the tent, we heard a few ruffles and a grumble, and then an 'ow'. Both I and Addy looked at each other with mock concern, she mouthed a 'What is he doing' and I gave my shoulders a light shrug, she simply rolled her eyes. "Go get Doc ready, I'll meet you at the gate." Addy said before walking into the tent. With that I made my way over to the medical tent.

Now, he may have been called Doc, but he wasn't your usual doctor. He was an addiction counsellor before the outbreak, but he seemed to know enough to be crowned the camps medic. As I approached the tent, I flicked my blonde hair behind my shoulder, taking the band from around my wrist and getting as much hair up as I could. I had always had long hair; it had been one of the things my mother loved most about me. I remembered when we used to sit on the sofa, watching movies and she would just braid my hair over and over, and usually I would end up falling asleep. I hadn't had the heart to cut it yet, and I wouldn't be any time soon. Addy was a dab hand at plaits anyway, and there was no doubt I'd have another one soon, but for now, a high ponytail would do.

"Hey Doc, you in there." I spoke after walking into the small medic tent, heading towards the back. I gave one of the patients a pat on the foot as I walked past, sending him a smile, which was weakly returned. The small section at the back was cornered off with a blanket, making it sort of Doc's office.

"Hey Alice, gimme two minutes and I'll be out." I heard the old mans voice. But then something caught my nose.

"Is that weed?" I had already poked my head through the blanket opening and saw the white haired doctor puffing on a blunt. He somewhat jumped as he looked around, his sheepish smile and shrug making me chuckle. "I thought you said you ran out. You liar." I scolded, walking into his little space. He gave a smile and shrug of his shoulders before taking a quick puff.

"Sorry darlin', I couldn't help myself." He admitted as he passed over the rest of the blunt. I took it gladly and inhaled the last of it, letting the smoke out slowly.

"Y'know, you were supposed to get me off of this stuff." I reminded him. We both gave a laugh at that as I dabbed it in the ash tray, making sure the embers had gone out. The high was smooth and slow, but not too much that it slowed me down. It sort of just, calmed the mind from thinking too much. Which was one of my problems.

After that Doc gathered up his things and we headed to the gates, Addy and Mack were already waiting, hand in hand.

"Finally, what took you so long?" Addy asked as we began to walk down the pathway, into the forest. She soon noticed the smell and rolled her eyes, "That's why you're late." She mumbled under her breath, but Doc and I heard, giving a small chuckle between us.

We continued on down the road until we came to a little blue car, that was pilled high with stuff. Sketchy and Skeezy were already waiting with a wobbly table filled with different weapons. As we approached Sketchy opened his arms wide and smiled, his teeth dirty with grime.

"Welcome my friends. I've got a wide selection of weapons for the best of zombie slayers, and of course, that just happens to be you lot." Another smile graced his lips as we approached the table, Doc walked over to Skeezy who seemed to be in charge of the drugs. Addy and Mack headed to Sketchy who was holding out weapons for them to browse through.

"Hey, Alice. Here's that whetstone you asked for." Sketchy handed over the small stone and I smiled, trading some throwing knives for it.

"Well if availability of ammo is all you care about then the .22 is the way to go." Sketchy spoke walking over to Addy and myself. "But if you really want to make an impression, check out this smoke wagon. You really make a Z's day with this." He handed a rather large gun to Addy, who took it and gave it a test aim. "Now the .22, that'll kill a Z, but it's gonna be about two or three shots before the things down and dead. This baby?" Sketchy pointed towards the gun Addy held. "You stop a car with this." I knew Addy wasn't liking the gun, while she could use almost anything you put in her hand, she preferred something silent. She handed the gun back, and then voiced her preference.

"I was thinking something more silent. Like a club. And sharp." She folded her arms over her chest and gave me a sideways glance, I nudged her in the side and we chuckled seeing Sketchy's concerned look. "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I like how you think. Silent but effective. Huh? Okay. Check this out." Sketchy spoke as he headed over to the boot of his car, pulling down the holder that held his long weapons. He then pulled out something that made Addy's eyes light up.

Sketchy handed over the weapon. "Hmmm. Made it myself. I call it 'The Z Whacker.'" Addy held the weapon in her hand and gave it a swing, testing out the weight and dexterity. "You start with an aluminium bat then customize it for the task at hand." Sketchy, Mack and I stood back as she twisted it around.

"Wow, it's light." Addy commented. "Yeah, the spikes are hand cast from beer cans. So they're long enough that they kill the brain but you can still pull it out. Cuz nothing is worse than getting your pike stuck into a Z's skull. Cuz then you got to drag them down to the ground. You got to put your foot on their chest. Then you got to yank the thing out. And by then you're dead. You know what I mean?"

"Gotta hate that." I joked giving Sketchy a nudge and a smile. With Addy seemingly happy with her purchase I headed over to a nearby tree, I had some sharpening to do. I settled down for just a moment before I heard growling.

"Behind you!" Mack yelled. From out of the trees came a zombie, this one was fast, just turned not too long ago. It headed for Addy who had her back turned to the Z, but as it came into her space and swung her new bat around and took the Z out with one hit. Sketchy was right, the spikes easily slipped in - killing the brain – and slipped right back out. I was happy that Addy and Mack could handle themselves so sat back down and pulled my kukri knives from behind my back. I was just about to start when I heard more growling. Standing up I began to approach the group, sheathing my kukri knives I pulled out one of my throwing knives. Twisting it between my fingers as I stood next to Doc.

"I wonder if his brothers know." Skeezy spoke, all of us looking down to Red Hanson on the floor, his face messed up due to Addy's swing.

"Yeah, I think so cuz here they come." Just as we looked up another one of the brothers came running out of the forest, Mack was already walking forwards with his gun up. One shot and the Z continued his approach but was already dead, Mack stepped to the side slightly and let the Z fall. Another Z, a bigger one this time, waddled for Addy. I stopped spinning my knife for a moment, Addy was my best friend, and there was no way I'd let her die.

However, with a stab to the chest to halt the Z's advance, she then swung like a champ. The Z was big and took the hit, but Mack was already there and shot the Z in the side of the head. He looked between Addy and me with a smile, giving us both a nod. I smiled as they turned around and made their way back, but before they could reach us another Z came from the forest. It grabbed Mack and tried to bite anything it could grab onto. I knew this knife would come in handy. Pulling my arm back I let the knife fly through the air, it skimmed past Mack and lodged itself in the Z's head.

"Closing time." Sketchy and Skeezy began packing away all their things with practice, it only took them a few minutes before they were heading down the road. I headed over to the brothers, checking they didn't have anything we could use on them.

"The way that big one moved he must have turned just a few hours ago." I could hear Addy speaking as she held her small camera out, filming the bodies around her. "Four brothers, recently turned, found on Miller's Road by Sutter's Farm. Given mercy, May 13, 3 A. Z." The brothers had nothing on them we could use, but I did notice the cuts on one of the brother's wrists. It seems he couldn't handle the apocalypse anymore. "You ready, Alice?" Addy called once she saw me hovering over one of the Z's, I nodded and stood up, following her.

It hadn't taken long to walk back, but as I approached the other side of the lake, I noticed something. "Smoke." I yelled back to the others, seeing the camp across the lake billowing smoke. The others were soon by my side as we stared out at our home. Doc was on the radio instantly.

"Mayday. Mayday. Calling Camp Blue Sky. This is Doc. With Thompson, Carver and Crowley. What is your situation? Over." Doc spoke through the radio. We hoped the camp would be the first to reply but we heard Garnett's voice.

"Hey, Doc. What's going on? What's going on?" Garnett called back, worry clearly laced in his voice. "Garnett? Thank God you're alive. We thought everyone was dead." I looked over at the place I had called home, it was one fire, everything was on fire.

"I'm not at Camp Blue Sky. What's happening?" Garnett wasn't there? I suppose that was a good thing. "Batteries dying. God damn it." Doc cursed hitting the radio, as if that would help. Before Doc could repeat his last message an explosion ripped through the camp, if anyone had been alive, they were sure to be dead now. "Blue Sky has been overrun. The whole place is on… fire." Doc informed Garnett on the other side. "Survivors?" Garnett asked quickly. "Well there was a ton of gunfire a while ago, but nothing since." With that the battery died, leaving us with no communication to Garnett. "Come on, let's go." I spoke, standing up from my perch and heading around the lake. If anyone was still alive, they'd be in the bus, heading down the road. If we got there quick enough, we could join them and protect the kids.

We made it to the road quickly, just in time to see the dirty yellow school bus racing down the road. We all stopped by the side, watching as it drove by. "Oh, there's the escape bus." Addy spoke relived, but I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Oh, they got the kids out." And then, as if in slow motion we saw the Z, its head sticking out of one of the windows. The bus continued to speed down the road before turning towards the forest. "Come on!" Addy yelled as we all began running towards the bus, if we could save at least one of them. But we were too late as the back door swung open and a Z leapt out, if it wasn't the apocalypse it would have been comical how we all almost turned on the spot.

Everyone on the bus had been turned and now they were chasing after us. "Come on, Doc. Get those legs moving!" I yelled behind me, seeing Doc lagging a little.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He yelled back. We tackled the hill in front of us and all stopped at the top. Four Z's stood in the road, snarling once they'd realized we were there. Before any of us could move – inclusing the Z's – they were taken down by a truck. Garnett was hanging out the window.

"Get in!" Garnett yelled. He didn't have to say anymore as we all heaved ourselves towards the truck. A man I hadn't seen before opened the back door for Doc, who threw himself in. I, Addy and Mack jumped into the bed of the truck.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" Mack yelled slapping the side of the truck as we sped off. We were silent for a while, the reality of what had just happened sinking in. How could that have happened? The perimeter was safe, Donna and Marion were on watch. It just didn't seem right that everything would go to shit so quickly. Frowning I looked through the window, seeing Warren and Garnett up front, Doc on the right back seat, and two new men. What looked like a soldier and a civilian were sat side by side. Had Garnett and Warren saved them? Or had they met before this had all happened. Whatever was happening it didn't feel right to me.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked Addy, noticing she was staring at her hands. She looked up to me with a confused look. I knew she was thinking the same as me.

"I don't understand it either." I spoke, stretching my legs out. "It's almost like they were just overrun in an instant." Mack added, checking his gun out.

"Maybe they came from the water? But could that many all stick together, surely Donna or Marion would've noticed something." I offered. We sat in silence for a while again, it didn't matter now. Our home was gone.

We'd been driving for almost an hour before we started to slow down, I had already stood up in the bed of the truck, leaning on the roof. "Hey, we're here." I stated looking down to Addy and Mack. They stood up and Addy pulled out her camera, filming the scenes around us. It looked like we'd pulled up in front of what used to be a university, or at least what was left of it. There were bodies strewn everywhere, and a billow of smoke leaked from a truck which looked like it had rammed its way through.

The soldier quickly jumped out of the truck, followed by the other male, whom was quickly told to 'Wait in the truck.' He gave a grumble before doing as he was told. We all watched the soldier as he approached the front doors, checking the bodies laying around to make sure they were safe.

"Is it them?" The civilian asked, leaning out of the window. "Hammond?! Is it them?" he yelled. There was a small pause before we heard a small growl. Hammond looked down and saw the top half of a Z soldier crawling from under the car.

"Yeah." He called back, disappointment clearly in his voice. It seems like we had come here for a reason, and that reason was currently either Z or had been given mercy.

"I got to pee." The civilian admitted as we all began to exit the truck. I landed softly and began to look around, I couldn't see a Z so far, but there seemed to be some salvageable stuff around. Addy, Mack and Doc stayed by the truck, Doc hanging out of the door.

"My reinforcements are dead. We need to make a quick search for survivors and any supplies." I heard the Hammond order. "You! Zip it up and stay close to me." He pointed towards the civilian, who grumbled annoyed before indeed zipping himself up.

"Hey, where'd all the Z's go?" Addy asked.

"Movin' on, like locust." Doc replied.

"Nothing for them to eat." I added, getting a grimace from Addy.

"Yeah, but they'll be back." Hammond warned. Then he began giving out more orders, I wasn't exactly sure about following this guy. Garnett and Warren were my leaders. He spoke to them and they seemed to follow his orders. "And you four check the vehicles." He called back to us, I gave a scoff but caught the warning motherly gaze of Warren. I rolled my eyes and was soon pushed off with Addy behind me.

"Come on grumpy guts, get searching." She nudged me again and I groaned but began to salvage what I could. I headed around the building, picking up little bits and pieces. I then stood up to give my back a stretch, and something caught my eye. It was almost like the glint of someone holding up a piece of glass, or a scope. Holding my hand over my eyes to block out the sun, I caught the sight of something on the roof. I couldn't tell what it was, but as soon as I looked up there. The glint was gone. Frowning I gave a shrug of my shoulders before continuing my job.

I joined up with Mack, Addy and Doc again after I heard growling from around a corner. "Hey guys, you hear that?" I asked waving them over. As we turned the corner we could see a bunch of Z's crowding around what looked like a cage.

"What are they after?" Addy questioned as we approached the Z's. I pulled out my kukri knives from behind my back and spun them in my hands.

"Only one thing. Come on." I informed as we came up behind them, each of us taking out a Z. We cleared them with ease and when all was done, there was a girl. Yep. Crouched in the smack damn middle of the cage was what looked like a woman, she had tanned skin with long black hair. But other than that I couldn't tell much about her.

"Hey. Hey. You alright?" Mack asked as we all looked through the cage.

"Over here." I stood in front of the door where a padlock held it closed. Mack came over and broke the lock with his crowbar, before swinging the door open and walking inside.

"Careful. She might be dead." Addy warned from the other side of the cage, with Doc by her side. I made sure to stand by the door; in case it all went sideways.

Mack crouched in front of the female and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. In the blink of an eye the girl was up and holding a knife to Mack's throat. My blade was pressed against her throat in turn. Her eyes were almost black, filled with a mixture of fear and determination. My blue eyes dared her to make a move, but Addy voice stopped the both of us.

"Hey, hey, hey." Addy called holding her arm through the cage.

"Well she ain't dead." Doc joked, earning a glare from I and Mack.

"Hey, it's okay. Hey, hey. We're good people. We just saved you. Okay, don't hurt him." Addy pleaded. A moment passed before the girl slowly removed her weapon from Mack's throat. I followed suit but decided not the sheath one blade.

"Sorry. I didn't know where I was. I must have fallen asleep." She admitted standing back now. She still seemed to be on alert, which we all were.

"Asleep? How long you in this cage for?" Doc asked, shocked the woman could fall asleep with Z's surrounding her. Me not so much, I could sleep through anything.

"Two days." She confessed, her breathing now becoming erratic.

We all looked between each other before I moved, sheathing my other sword and pulling my canteen from my bag. I handed it to her silently as Mack left the cage, Addy walking round to give him a hug.

"Thanks." She gave me a gentle nod, I gave a shrug of my shoulders. "Us girls gotta stick together."

After we had introduced ourselves we found out her name was Cassandra, and that's all we knew. She agreed to come along with us for a while and we then headed back to the entrance. When we headed in I could hear the cry of a baby, we all looked to each other, shocked that a baby was still alive.

"Is that a real baby?" I questioned as we all walked in. Garnett was holding the small crying child, trying to soothe it.

"Don't ask." Warren sighed giving me a pat on the shoulder. I only rolled my eyes and went to sit with the others.

"Somebody better shut that kid up before he attracts Z's like flies." Murphy spoke up, clearly nervous of the whole situation. Garnett was trying his best to calm the child down, but nothing seemed to be working.

"Hey. It's a baby. He makes noise, okay?" Garnett informed Murphy, who clearly didn't know anything about babies.

"Shut up." Hammond ordered Murphy, then looked to Garnett. "And you, do what you can." I didn't like how this Hammond spoke to any of us, but Warren had caught us all up on the situation. Apparently, Murphy was the hope of the world, that he'd been given an experimental antidote to the Z virus and survived eight bites. We were supposed to help them get to a CDC lab in California. Like that was ever going to happen, it was literally miles and miles away.

"He's right about the Z's. Here." Hammond walked over to Cassandra, holding out a water bottle. She looked between him and the bottle before taking it quickly. She began to gulp what she could before Hammond snatched it away. I stood forwards, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving Hammond a glare, which he ignored. He then threw the bottle over to Addy.

"Why would somebody lock you in a cage and leave you to die? What did you do?" Hammond interrogated. Cassandra looked between everyone in the room.

"I didn't do anything. I locked myself in the cage for protection." She started, but I could tell she was nervous, she was hiding something. Then again we all had something to hide.

"You have the keys?" Hammond asked, standing over her.

"I lost them." She replied after a moment. I stood by Addy and gave a look to her. Then looked to Warren as she spoke up.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Warren asked, noticing the small amount of clothing she was wearing. Compared to I and Addy, who bore leather jackets and strong boots.

"I don't have to justify myself to you." She began but was soon cut off by Hammond.

"Maybe you do! We were supposed to meet the men in those vehicles. What happened here?" Hammond now bent, his hands on his knees as he tried to tell if she was lying.

"Those men showed up about a week ago. They cleared out the school and set up some kind of camp. But word got out that there was food. Lots of it from the bomb shelter. Yeah, it didn't take long. There was too many people. The soldiers shot some of the locals, and that brought the Z's." Hammond stood slowly watching Cassandra. It made sense, when you heard there was good food in the apocalypse, you followed the lead. "You can guess the rest." Cassandra finished.

Murphy was clearly having none of this as he stormed over to Hammonds side. "What are we wasting time talking to her for? Give her the baby, and let's go." He offered. Garnett spun around from placing said baby in a carrier.

"You can't give this girl a baby and leave." He spoke strongly, the usual good side of Garnett shining through.

"Well they can't come with us." Murphy spoke, although I doubt he had any say in what actually happened.

"Listen." Hammond started but Garnett cut him off.

"No way am I leaving the baby and her behind. It's not gonna happen." Garnett stood firm in, looking past Murphy and to Hammond.

"It's just a baby." Murphy started. "It's not like he's gonna grow up and be a fine young man someday." Although it was harsh, Murphy did have a point. I wouldn't be likely the baby would survive either with us, or with Cassandra.

"You know what, shut up!" Hammond had had enough as he walked to Murphy, pulling him out of the way slightly. "We'll take them to the next safe outpost. God, I hate moral dilemmas." Hammond exclaimed walking off somewhat. For now the rest of us just sat in silence, I had moved to stand by the door now, the baby had been making a lot of noise and we had been here for too long.

"Yeah what's next chief? You wanna start a college fund for him?" Murphy asked snidely.

"Puppies and kittens. 200 yards away." Warrens information closed the conversation. I looked out of the window and saw a group of Z's heading our way.

"There's some coming on my side." I alerted everyone as we began to gather our weapons. However, Hammond wasn't moving, only looking to Garnett confused.

"Zombies." Garnett clarified and Hammond nodded.

"All right, everybody. Time to go. You five, I want you to grab all the food and weapons you can find." Hammond ordered pointing to I, Mack, Addy, Cassandra and Doc. "Load them in that truck. The keys are still inside." Before Hammond could continue Mack stepped forwards.

"Hey! We haven't talked about this." Oh Mack, you always read my mind. I looked between Mack and caught sight of Warren. She shook her head, and I knew for now we had to do what Hammond said.

"We can talk about it later. Right now you do what I tell you." Hammond spoke with a firm no nonsense voice and Mack had nothing else to say. I stood by him and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving a shake of my head when he looked to me.

"Garnett! You stay with the baby and Murphy until we get back. Warren. You and I are gonna see if we can start up that deuce and a half. Everybody meets back here in five." Hammond gave out orders as if we were his team, but after he finished, none of us moved. We only look to Garnett for conformation.

"Go!" Hammond shouted, and Garnett finally nodded.

"All right. Do it." With that our group headed out, passing a pissed off looking Hammond.

We headed outside and began searching yet again for food and weapons. Addy was checking the Z's on the ground, making sure they were all mercied. It was silent as we picked the dead. I had found some matches, a few aspirin and some tobacco.

"Score." I mumbled to myself, slipping the small pouch into my backpack. Then we all heard the growling, I was up on my feet instantly, my hands reaching behind me and pulling out my knives. A soldier Z was fighting with Doc, but there was no way we could get close. The Z began to spin Doc around, and there was no chance of getting the Z without hurting Doc. And then the Z's head pretty much exploded. A giant hole was left in the Z's head, I could see right through to the other side, where a surprised Mack stood. Mack and Doc turned and looked for the mystery shooter. I looked to the roof, remembering the glint I had seen. And there he was. It looked to be a male, skinny and covered in a red scarf of some sort. He made a quick retreat when he saw us all looking.

"Well, I hope he's on our side." Doc let out a shaky breath, patting down his shirt.

"Err, Alice." I looked over to Addy who was motioning to me, and then to her own shirt. I looked down and groaned.

"Really?! I like this shirt." Brain matter had been splattered over my 'Let's kill zombies' shirt. I tried to get as much as I could off using my hands, and the rag that Cassandra had offered me. "You owe me a new shirt." I told Doc, throwing the sullied rag at him.

We had been waiting by the truck for a while now, Warren and Garnett were taking their sweet time in there.

"Hey, how're you doing?" I asked Cassandra as she sat on the side of the truck, I stood next to her, offering my water, which she took with a smile.

"I'm alright, thanks." She took a sip and handed it back, before sighing and letting her shoulders slump. I gave her a pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, we should be out of here soon."

"What's the holdup?" Hammond asked holding his arms out when we approached the door. Garnett was holding it closed and Warren was stood to the side, her hands on her knees, out of breath.

"Where's the baby?" Addy asked concerned. I could already guess what had happened.

"Turned." Warren confirmed my suspicions and I gave a small sigh to that. It was for the best though, well not the whole baby Z thing, but what would it know living in this world. Maybe it was for the best.

"Huh, surprise, surprise." Murphy gloated. He couldn't say anything more as Garnett grabbed the front of his jacket and slammed him against the door he was just holding shut. Tension quickly filled the air as Hammond pulled his gun on Garnett, I tensed up and lifted my hand to the hilt of my katana.

"Let him go. Or I will send you to walk among the dead." I pulled the hilt out just a little, the click catching Warren and Garnett's attention. Warren held her hand out and shook her head, and begrudgingly I clicked it back in – but kept my hand on the hilt. Garnett finally let go of murphy and Hammond pulled him out of the way. Hammond looked between Garnett and Warren.

"Let's get in the trucks. We're moving out." He ordered, but Warren stopped him.

"What about the… the baby thing? We can't leave it like that." The sounds of the baby inside we weird. It was almost animalistic, but, stranger.

"Yeah, she's right. Even if it is turned." Mack spoke.

"It sounds so sad." Addy added. I looked to her and then Doc with a shocked look. How could she think that sounded sad? It was horrifying.

"It's not sad. It's a zombie." Doc voiced my thoughts for me.

"Amen brother. Let's go." Murphy spoke next, throwing his arms up. Clearly, he was done with this whole situation.

"We can't leave it like that." Warren exclaimed, her motherly instinct showing through. Garnett pulled out his gun, readying himself.

"I'll do it." He spoke softly, and all of us could tell he really didn't want to. Lately he had been giving all mercy jobs to Warren or me, Warren had mercied Nana this morning.

I was surprised when Hammond stood forwards, holding Garnett's arm back.

"I'll do it." Hammond spoke, now readying his own rifle. "I need you to pull it together." He told Garnett, who only stood back slightly. "Two minutes. Be ready to go." And with that Warren pulled open the door and closed it behind Hammond.

We could hear the baby inside, and then a few rounds went off. I looked to Addy as she grabbed my hand, worry on her face. I knew she didn't much care for Hammond, but she always had a thing for babies. Me, not so much.

"If we wanted to ditch these two, take the truck and run, now would be the time." Doc spoke up, looking between me and Addy. Clearly Garnett's face was enough of an answer. "Just sayin'."

Another few minutes of silence passed before we heard more screaming. And lots of it. We all slammed into the room and what was waiting for us was nightmarish. Lying on the ground was Hammond, being munched on by mother and baby. The look in his eyes was desperate, but he knew there was nothing we could do to save him. I followed Garnett's lead as he raised his gun, everyone following suit.

"We give you mercy." I spoke before we all let loose. The three of them were dead.

We all headed back outside to gather ourselves. Murphy leant against the door of the truck, his head down.

"You know, none of this would have happened, if you'd just left that damn baby." He finally spoke, now standing up and looking at Garnett.

"I didn't tell Hammond to go get eaten by a baby." Garnett spat back.

"Never mind that now." Warren cut murphy off before he could retaliate. "We need a plan." Warren told Garnett. She was right, we had no idea what to do now. In my opinion we should just ditch Murphy and remake Camp Blue Sky.

"My plan is I'm taking this truck and I am forgetting about vaccines and labs and all of you." Murphy informed us, waving his arms about. "I wanted off this train from day one, and now's my chance."

"Wait, wait, wait. You can't just go. What about California? What about the vaccine?" Doc spoke up.

"What if it's real? What if there's a chance? And what if it's you?" Addy also spoke up. What in the hell were they thinking, there was no cure? Even if we did find a cure, the whole world had been reduced to nothing.

"I mean, he doesn't really look like the saviour of the human race." I added, getting a scoff and glare from Murphy.

"Addy. How do we know this isn't all just bullshit?" Mack asked her, his sense of reason showing through.

"How does anybody know anything anymore?" Murphy exclaimed, exasperated.

Then from the arguing we heard something. Addy returned into the school, with me behind her. I watched as she plucked Hammond's radio from his buckle, giving it a wipe on his trousers before we headed back out. Someone on the other end repeated the phrase 'Delta-Xray-Delta. Come in. This is Northern Light.'

"It's Hammond's radio." I informed the rest as Addy began to reply to this Northern Light.

"Hello?" Addy spoke into the radio and a reply was heard instantly.

"I copy you Delta-Xray! This is this is Northern Light. Who am I speaking to?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Addison Carver." Addy replied.

"Okay. I need to speak to Lieutenant Hammond." We all looked between each other as the stuttering voice asked.

"Hammond's dead." Addy informed bluntly.

"I'm… I'm… I'm sorry. I… I didn't copy that, Delta-Xray. Did you say that Hammond is dead?" the voice wanted confirmation.

"Yes." Addy confirmed.

"Is the package safe?" was the next question. The others looked between each other, but I could guess what the 'package' was. So, I looked to Murphy.

"Package? What… what package? Who is this?" Addy asked now confused.

"Listen. I need to speak to whoever's in charge." The male ordered.

"Who is it?" Warren asked, leaning over to Addy.

"They won't say. They want to know who's in charge." Warren then looked to Garnett.

"You are." Addy held the radio out to Garnett, who took it and turned around, his solider voice coming through as he spoke.

"This is Sergeant Garnett of the National Guard. Who is this?" He asked.

"Sergeant Garnett. Lieutenant Hammond was transporting a civilian named Murphy to California. Is he alive?" the male asked, clearly worried about what was going on.

"Yes. He's still alive." Garnett spoke back.

"Unfortunately." I mumbled to myself, getting a gentle slap from Warren as she gave me a stern look.

"Are… are you aware of Operation Bite Mark?" Bite Mark? That was one of the first operations to try and cure the virus when it first broke out.

"Do you mean the lab in California?" Garnett asked for clarification.

"Yes! Yes! Listen to me! It is imperative that you get Murphy to California. I repeat. It is imperative that you get Murphy alive to California. Do you copy?" The male spoke, but before Garnett could reply the radio began to fail.

"But we don't know… Who are you?" the scrambled words came through but I couldn't make them out.

"It's dead." Garnett grumbled, fiddling with the frequencies.

"So?" Warren asked, wondering what we were about to do. After a pause Garnett spoke.

"So… It looks like we're taking Mr. Congeniality here to California." We looked to Murphy as he scoffed.

"Says who?" he asked, trying to make himself bigger than he was.

"Says me." Garnett replied quickly, throwing the dead radio on the ground. With that we all packed ourselves into the trucks. Addy and Mack took one, while Warren, Garnett and Murphy took the bigger truck, and myself, Cassandra and Doc took the lead in the old truck. As we pulled out of the school we passed by someone walking down the path. He had a sniper rifle thrown over his shoulder, and I realised this was the guy would helped us.

"Hey. Hey there." Doc spoke, pulling the truck to a stop. "You're that sharp shooter that saved my ass, aren't you? Oh man. I want to thank you. Do you need a ride?" Doc asked the silent boy, after a moment he nodded and jumped into the bed of the truck with me. Patting the side we took off.

I now got to have a good look at him. He seemed to be around my age, maybe a year younger. He had short black hair, blue green eyes, and a small scar over his left eyebrow. He wore the usual get up for the zompocolypse, which was anything you could find. But he wore what he had on with style. He was kinda cute actually.

I gave him a simple nod as we took off down the road, to our new mission.


	2. Chapter 2 Fracking Zombies

We had been driving for a while now, heading towards the Tappan Zee Bridge to get one the other side of the lake. I had shimmed into the front, sitting shotgun next to Doc.

"So, what's the new kid like?" Doc asked once I'd settled down. I glanced over to him and gave him a shrug of my shoulders.

"Don't know really, he didn't say much." I replied, pulling out a cigarette and placing it between my lips. Doc handed over his lighter and I sparked up, taking a few pulls before handing it over to him. I then turned in my seat, looking back on Cassandra. She was sat in the middle of the back seats, looking out the front window with a plain look on her face.

"You want some?" I asked, offering the cigarette once Doc had passed it back. Cassandra nodded her head and I passed it to her, she was hesitant for a moment before inhaling the smoke. She gave a harsh cough as she blew out the smoke, and Doc gave a chuckle as she passed it back, a grimace on her face.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It's a pretty old pack, the tobacco has dried out a little." I apologised. I was relieved when she gave a small laugh.

"It's alright. I've never really smoked before… before all this." She informed with a hint of sadness. I nodded my head and blew the smoke from my mouth out the window.

"And you don't want to start now, it's a bad habit and not one as easily supplied as it was." I grumbled, throwing the butt out of the window.

"You might wanna roll your window up, kid." Doc warned, rolling his window up quickly. I turned in my seat and saw Warren's massive truck slamming through Z's.

We had reached the Tappan Zee Bridge, and it was filled with Z's, cars and bodies. Warren was clearly having fun slamming her way through the soft Z's, clearing a path for us to follow.

"Hold on tight!" Doc exclaimed as a Z stumbled into the road in front of us, too late to stop or swerve. Cassandra sat back, holding onto the loose seatbelts around her, I gave the roof a bang, telling the sniper to hold on. We slammed through the Z, it's body slamming against the front of the truck, it's brains and black blood smearing the windshield.

Once we had gotten over the bridge, we stopped for just a moment to clear the window, before carrying on. We didn't get far before Warren parked on the side of the road. I assumed Warren's truck had run out of gas, and it looked like we had a flat on the driver's side. The only truck that looked like it could survive, was Addy and Mack's truck.

"Alright, so it looks like you got a flat." Warren informed us as she came to stand by our truck. Doc rolled his window down and stuck his head out, getting a face full of smoke before he got out. I and Cassandra followed suit. I headed round to the back and helped Doc lift out the things we'd need to change the tyre. Then I heard the engines.

"Heads up. We got company." Mack called to the group. We all came to stand in front of the trucks, just to make sure the two motorcycles didn't get any ideas. I moved my hand to my pistol, just in case.

"That's right. Keep rolling and we all live to see another day." Warren spoke quietly as they slowly drove by. I looked around our group, making sure I knew where everyone was. That's when I caught sight of Cassandra, hiding from the view of the bikers. I thought it somewhat suspicious, but for now didn't bother asking about it. Maybe she was just scared? With the bikers revving out of view we got to changing the tyre.

"Alright, let's do this quick." Warren ordered. With the truck up she began her work. I would pass tools to her as she worked her magic, from here the tyre didn't look flat, but I had no idea with cars or trucks.

"All right. Doesn't look flat, but it won't turn." Warren said as she tried to get the wheel to move in any direction.

"We ran over some fun stuff." Doc replied, trying to help Warren.

"I wouldn't call it fun. Although Warren seemed to be having fun." I smirked, catching the wide smile on Warren's face.

"Okay. Well help me get it off and let's see what's going on." As the pulled at the tyre a horrible squelching sound assaulted my ears, it sounded like, I don't even know how to describe it. We soon found the problem when the blended Z began to snarl and growl. It was really stuffed in there, its entrails wrapping around the truck's axel. We all stood back for a moment, watching as the Z writhed as it tried to get to us.

"Well that explains the pull to the left." Doc joked. I rolled my eyes and pulled out a kukri blade.

"What are you waiting for? Kill it! Kill it!" Murphy yelled, now turning away from the sight and heading to the other side of the road. Clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Warren and Doc stood aside as I bent down to get a good look at where the head was, it was mangled in there.

"I give you mercy." I spoke before driving the blade into the Z's head, it gurgled for a moment before going still. With that I cleaned off my blade and sheathed it. When I stood, I caught sight of New York.

"Wow, would ya look at that." I spoke, pointing to the view of the big city. From here it didn't look like the streets were filled with Z's, or that the population had dwindled to almost zero.

"Even after all this. This is still beautiful." Warren voiced lightly. I stood beside Doc as we gazed at the city.

"Take a good look. Might be not back for a while." Garnett warned, the journey to California – if we even got there – would take a while. We would be on the move for the whole thing, not settling down and making camp. Just constant travelling.

"So long New York." Addy held her camera up, taking the last images of our home.

"See ya in the next life." Murphy grumbled before heading back to the truck. The rest of us stood there for just a few moments more before moving.

**PARAMUS PARK MALL **

**NEW JERSEY**

We had found the ruins of a park mall, black Friday signs hanging in the smashed windows of the huge building. Fires littered the empty parking lot, the cars all stacked up around us. Whoever was left in there, had tried to barricade the place. Clearly that hadn't worked.

Garnett had given us the usual jobs, 'look for anything useful.' And so, we did. I teamed up with Doc and the new kid, and we began our scavenger hunt. Doc checked the front of the cars, I would check the trunk and the back of the car, and the new kid would check for gas.

"So, what's your name, kid?" Doc asked. Curious I moved up to the front of the car, now opposite Doc. He pulled out what looked like a spliff and gave it a sniff, before slipping it into his front pocket.

"Ten Thousand." The kid replied after a moment of silence. I gave a frown.

"That is not a name. It's a number." Doc laughed before continuing to look through the car. I gave him a light flick on the hand, to which he grumbled at.

"It's my name. Made it up myself." Ten Thousand replied, matter-of-factly.

"Well I suppose you'd have to." I looked to Doc with a 'seriously' expression, shaking my head, before standing up and heading round to their side.

"Does it mean anything?" I asked, curious about his strange name. Surely it wasn't his actual name, what kind of parent's would name their child a number? Ten looked up to me for a moment, before quickly looking back to what he was doing.

"How many zombies I'm going to kill." He replied quietly.

"Well that's a whole lot of zombies." Doc spoke, rummaging as he did. I now leant over the open door, watching as Doc picked through the last bits.

"Already on 1,055." Doc poked his head out of the car, rather comically.

"Damn!" He exclaimed, I was shocked too, although I hadn't exactly been counting how many I'd killed, but I doubt it was nowhere near that many.

"So, what happens when you get to ten thousand?" I asked, interested in this boy.

"Change my name." he shrugged his shoulders a little before standing up.

"To what? Twenty thousand?" Doc joked, pulling up a mirror. Unfortunately, he didn't catch my reflection quick enough to miss the slap to his head.

"Jeff." I heard Ten Thousand reply. Doc and I looked at each other for a moment. "I like the name Jeff." He informed, walking over to a snarling Z, stuck in the front of the car. "Ah, shut up." He told the dead thing, before giving it mercy. He wiped his knife off and then looked over to me. "Hey, mind if I have a look at your knives?" he asked, almost sheepishly. I gave him a smile and nodded.

"Of course." I pulled the knives from the sheathes and held them out to him. He took them gently and inspected them, I watched as his fingers glided over the steel, as he twisted them with skill in his hands. Satisfied with them he handed them back.

"They're nice. Really nice." He deducted, shoving a hand into his pocket. I gave him a smile, which was almost mirrored by the sniper.

"Thanks. My parents got me them before the outbreak started. My twenty third birthday, I'd always wanted some." I paused for a moment, thinking back to the memory. "Good job I got them, huh." I gave a sad sort of chuckle. Doc then placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Good job you know how to use them." He gave my shoulder a shake. "The amount of times you've saved my ass with those, man I owe you." I gave my shoulders a shrug, his hand leaving my shoulder as we headed back.

"You can pay me back when this is all over." I said, nudging his side as he chuckled. "And hopefully, it will be over at some point. If the saviour of humanity, is actually able to save us." I thought out loud. None of us were sure about Murphy being the saviour, but there was nothing else to hold onto. At least the hope of him having the cure, could keep us going. For now.

As I was heading back over to the group, I could hear Cassandra talking about Black Summer. God, that was an awful time. I couldn't remember much about the time; I think my mind had just blocked it off. Cassandra however remembered.

"I was in Philly for Black Summer. It was bad. I lost thirty pounds. Thought I was dead." She stated.

"How did you survive?" Addy asked. Cassandra paused longer than usual, and something began to worry me. I had heard of some people resorting to cannibalism, I just hoped Cassandra wasn't one of them.

"Did what I had to do." She answered. That didn't give me much hope. Then from the barricade of cars I heard a rustling, everyone turned and pointed their weapons at the dirty man pulling himself out of the tangle of metal.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa." He held his hands up, his head down as he noticed our guns pointed towards him. I stood with 10k my pistol pointed at the man, and my other hand on the hilt of a kukri.

"Hold on. It's not a Z." Warren halted us. Mack took the guys right side, his gun pointed to his head, Warren came around his left and began to check him for weapons.

"Peace. No bites here. Hundred percent alive." I doubted he wanted peace. Wait a minute, he was one of the bikers! I then looked to see where Cassandra was, but she hadn't taken cover like before. Instead she stood with her arms crossed and a hard look on her face.

"What happened to your friend?" Garnett asked, giving him a stern and cautious look. Warren came to stand beside Garnett, her gun still locked to the biker.

"Turns out he had other friends of low morals. Took my ride. Horse thieves should be shot." He finished his lies.

"You should choose better friends." Cassandra spoke up, stepping forwards a little. I headed over to her side, checking in the cars as I passed for anymore stowaways.

"Good advice." I took note of the way he spoke, they way he looked at Cassandra like he knew her. I stood by her and gave the biker a hard look, holding my pistol just a little lower. Most people were more scared of becoming a Z, so aiming for a body shot, usually got them talking.

"What can we do for you? One peaceful group of humans to a lone traveller?" Warren asked.

"Could use a lift. Sure, don't want to spend the night out here alone." He spoke, shrugging his shoulders a little, his hands still in the air.

"Sorry. We ain't running a taxi service." Murphy pipped up, and for once I agreed with him. Something wasn't right with this dude.

"Which way are you headed?" I looked to Garnett a little shocked. I knew he was a good guy, but we couldn't pick up everyone.

"Any direction but back. Word is there's a horde on the move south on the New York side. I see you're scrounging for gas. You know like we used to say, ass, gas or grass." No one quite understood that part, and we all gave an awkward look to each other. "Nobody rides for free. I know where you could fill up." Maybe he could be of some use to us.

"Now would be the time to share that information." Garnett ordered.

"Place called Jersey Devil Refinery, maybe five miles off, just off the turnpike." He informed.

"How do you know there's gas there?" Warren asked, clearly just as suspicious as I felt.

"Got overrun day number one. All the tanks are still full, just rusting away." I could hear the edge in his voice, the light part at the end. Thinking it over for a moment Garnett finally spoke. And it wasn't what I wanted to hear.

"Alright, take us to this refinery. And if there's gas there like you say, you can ride with us to the next outpost." I bit my bottom lip and holstered my gun, moving over to Garnett.

"You won't be sorry." The biker spoke, moving down to pick his knife up. Warren however picked it up, and handed it to him, slowly.

"You got that right." I heard her say.

"Let's get out of here. New guy's gonna ride with me and Warren. Everybody else load up in the truck." Garnett ordered before looking down to me, everyone was packing up to go, but he could tell something was on my mind. "You're biting your lip. What's up?" he asked, folding his arms and turning us away from the group.

"I don't trust him." I started, looking back and watching Cassandra and the biker. "I think he knows Cassandra somehow. And why would he be here? How do we know he's not just bait, maybe he wants to lead us to this refinery to kill us all?" I voiced my concerns and Garnett listened, he always took anything anyone said into consideration, weighing out the pros and cons.

"I know how you feel, Alice." He started, placing his hand on my shoulder in comfort. "But we need gas. We'll take it slow and keep an eye on him, you see anything amiss just tell me, alright?" He gave my shoulder a pat. I gave a huff but agreed anyway, heading over to the truck. I gave the biker a glare as I passed, watching him slide further into his seat. Having been the last to get to the truck, I had to sit in the bed with 10k.

"Hey." I said, sitting against the back of the window next to him, nestled more in the corner. He gave a nod in reply. After we had taken off and were on the road for a while, I spoke up.

"So, who taught you how to shoot?" I asked, pointing to his rifle. He seemed startled for a moment, and shifted awkwardly in his seat, his eyes darting down.

"Uh, my… my dad." He stuttered, clearly not being used to small talk. Then again, I wasn't the best at it.

"Cool, Warren taught me. I didn't even know how to hold a gun before all this." I gave a small chuckle, which seemed to make him smile. "I'm still pretty bad at it. It must've taken you a while to learn how to shoot with that massive thing." I motioned to his rifle. He gave another smile and shook his head a little.

"It's not that big. There's rifle's out there, much bigger than this." He informed me.

"No way, you're kidding right?" I asked, interested in how someone could carry around a gun that big. They'd get eaten in seconds. He shook his head though and I gave my brows a raise. "That's crazy." I paused for a moment, the silence between us becoming more comfortable than awkward.

"So, how'd you know Doc and the others?" He spoke up first, which surprised me slightly.

"Oh, uh. Well I knew Addy and Mack before the Z's; we went to the same college. I helped them get out on day one, after they got stuck in the ice rink. And I met Doc in a pharmacy a few days in." I informed, thinking back to the first times I'd met them all. "And we all got together at Camp Blue Sky. Warren and Garnett are kinda like the parent's, Doc's the crazy uncle, and we're the kids I suppose." I laughed thinking about how weird a family we seemed. "We all have each other's back though." I told him firmly. He seemed happy to know that, but still seemed cautious to get too comfortable. I could understand how he felt, it was hard to trust people now that they could be taken away at any moment.

"It's nice, talking to you." He said quietly after a moment. "I don't know why, but it just feels… easy." He gave me a small smile, the corner of his lip turning up.

"Well, I don't plan on going anywhere soon. So, if you ever want to talk more, I'll listen." I returned his smile.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and we started to get closer to this so called 'refinery'. 10k and I had now stood up, leaning against the roof of the truck as we pulled into the refinery. There were plenty of buildings and warehouses, and more than enough Z's around. A constant banging could be heard, and it seemed to be attracting the Z's like bugs to a UV light. It was kind of strange how they all seemed to walk in a somewhat orderly fashion, up the stairs, and along the catwalks.

"Frackin' zombies." 10k said. I was somewhat confused, but chuckled, nonetheless.

We all began to spill out of the trucks, coming together at the front to sus out what to do next. I noticed the biker stood close to Cassandra, and I could tell she was uncomfortable, but for some reason didn't move. I gently called her over to the side of my truck, watching as the biker began to move, but stopped when he saw my scowl. Cassandra stood in front of me now, distance between the two made me comfortable. I didn't trust him.

"They seem to want something in there real bad." Garnett spoke, as we all watched the Z's.

"It's that sound. Like bees to honey." Cassandra said.

"Or Z's to shit." Of course, Murphy would have his own version.

"Hey, you know about this?" Warren asked, pointing back to the biker and then the disaster in front of us.

"Hey, all the easy gas is gone." He replied. He did have a point. This looked to be like the only gas left.

"So, what's the brilliant plan? Die, get eaten, go home early?" Murphy chimed up once again.

"What's that smell?" Addy asked, and it's only then did I catch it myself.

"Smells like the undead and gasoline, and Murphy." I informed, giving the scowling Murphy a sweet smile.

"Both highly flammable. So, no firearms of any kind." Garnett ordered.

"Fine with me." I pipped up, unsheathing my katana happily. I didn't use it as much as my kukri knives, but when I did, I was a happy camper. I noticed 10k's almost worried look, but I could tell he was interested in how good I was with it.

"So how do you want to handle this?" Warren asked.

"Well first we got to shut off whatever's making that noise." Garnett thought out loud.

"Okay, it's probably some kind of pump. But where?" Warren answered.

"Follow the zombies. They all seem to be headed for the top of that tank." Mack spoke, it seemed simple enough.

"We'll get up there and check it out." Addy volunteered herself and Mack.

"Then we got to have a sound that draws the Z's away from the pump so we can get to the gas." Garnett gave the next problem out.

"Sorry, I left my guitar back at Camp Blue Sky." Doc joked, and I gave a small chuckle. He always knew how to lighten the mood, even if it was just a little bit.

"Car horns?" Addy suggested. Mack had gone to pick up a busted shovel from a pile of scrap.

"No, they'll all just head this way." He informed.

"And so, will every other dead head within earshot, and worse, humans." I gave a nod to the biker and Addy and I both gave him a glare.

"I have something." Cassandra spoke as she rummaged around in her bag. "Z's like high-pitched sounds. The more musical the better." She pulled out the innards of a musical box, the key still in place. As she turned it and let the music play, a few of the closer Z's turned around and began to stumble our way. It was sort of interesting, but also weird.

"Wow, learn something every day." Warren voiced our thoughts.

"That's great. You're our decoy." Garnett spoke pointing to Cassandra.

"I'll go with her." The biker spoke up. Instantly I looked to Garnett, my gaze warning him.

"I don't need his help." Cassandra spat, giving him a dirty look.

"No, you need cover. Take him. And start the music when you get to the top of that catwalk." I gave a sigh as Cassandra started to run off, trying to get as much distance between herself and the biker.

"You two, get to the top of the other side and see if you can kill that noise." Garnett pointed to Addy and Mack.

"Got it." Mack spoke and off they went.

"Where'd that kid go?" Garnett asked, and I looked to my side. But he wasn't there. How'd he do that?!

"He was here a minute ago." I said, pointing to the empty spot beside me.

"Oh, and his name is Ten Thousand." Doc informed Garnett.

"Well he better be back by the time we're ready to go." The commander voice of Garnett informed us he was serious. I just hoped 10k would be back, I was starting to like him. I hoped out of the back of the truck and headed over to stand by Doc, looking around high for any sign of 10k.

"So, what should I be doing while you all are getting incinerated to death?" Murphy asked, hanging out of the car like a child.

"All right, why don't you take Mr. Congeniality here and the suburban and get back to a safe distance, just in case." Garnett spoke to Doc.

"What if… you know… zombies?" Doc asked.

"If this all ends in tears, you got to get him to California." Garnett told.

"Sure. No problem." Doc grumbled walking to the truck.

"And me?" I asked, being the only one left without a job.

"You're gonna help me and Warren, keep us safe while we try and get the tanker running." Garnett gave me my orders and I nodded, heading over to the tanker with them both. I took down a few Z's along the way, slicing through their heads like butter, dropping them with ease almost.

"Good job I sharpened this." I yelled out, slicing the legs of a Z as Warren stabbed it through the head with her machete.

"Good job you know how to use it." Warren replied, giving me a smile as she stood up, wiping her forehead.

"In another life, you two could've been mother and daughter." Garnett joked, seeing us standing there and working together. We both gave a chuckle as we headed to the tanker. I stood guard as told. From here I could see Addy and Mack making their way up the stairs and along the catwalks, killing Z's as they went. I worried that I couldn't see Cassandra or the biker.

I jumped a little as the tanker behind me roared into life, I turned around and gave Warren and Garnett a quick thumbs up. Now all we had to do, was wait for that noise to stop.

"Alice! Look out!" I barley heard Garnett's voice over the roar, but certainly felt the Z grab me from behind. I dropped my katana in the scuffle, moving my body as far forward as I could in the grasp, so the gnashing teeth couldn't sink into my flesh. Garnett began heading my way, but before he could reach me, the Z went limp and I along with the Z tumbled forwards. Shocked I tried squirming from under it, grabbing onto Garnett's arms as he pulled me out and up.

"You alright?! You okay?!" Garnett fussed, making sure I had no bites. I just stared down at the Z, staring at the hole in its head. I looked around as barley caught sight of a figure. 10k had saved me? But how? I didn't hear a shot, and the place hadn't gone up in flames.

"Alice, you alright?" the voice of Garnett finally came through and I looked to him, a little blankly.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." I mumbled back, giving myself a shake to bring me back to focus.

"Good. Good." Garnett sighed gently and gave me a pat on the shoulder, handing my katana back. Just then the noise stopped and all the Z's stood still, until the ringing of Cassandra's music chimed.

"They did it." Warren spoke as Garnett and I climbed onto the sides of the tanker. Before we could move out however the banging started up again.

"What's going on?" I spoke, climbing further up the tanker, now sitting on the roof. I could see the Z's on the catwalks begin to move again. Then the noise stopped again. A few moments later, Addy and Mack came running around the corner.

"What was up there?" Garnett asked.

"Some kind of a pressure valve thing. But that tank is full of zombie goo, like to the top." Addy informed us, before climbing onto the tanker behind Garnett, Mack going around to the other side.

"Start the music! Let's dance." Garnett spoke before Warren gave the tanker horn a loud blast. The music then began to play, echoing through the pipes, drawing the Z's away. Warren shifted the tanker into gear, and we headed towards the hose. I stayed on top as Mack, and the others began to fill the tanker. It all seemed to be going well, too well. After a moment the floor shook, and the pipes began to hiss and groan. I stood up and looked up at the shaking pipes.

"Guys, I think whatever you did, it's getting ready to burst!" I called down before slipping off the roof, landing with a thud next to Addy and Mack. Then we heard a loud pop and saw one of the pipes explode, spilling Z's covered in gas onto the ground. They stood, looking at us before slowly advancing. I pulled out my kukri knives and Mack and Addy picked up whatever they could find.

"Where's your Z Whacker?" I asked looking to Addy. She gave me a sad look before glancing up to the catwalks. I nodded my head and unsheathed my katana, holding it out for her. She looked between me and the weapon before taking it.

"Just, don't break it." I asked, and she gave me a nod and a smile. As the Z's came closer and closer, we stood our ground, and just before they reached us, a truck came barrelling around the corner. It slammed into a support and the zombies on top of the truck went flying, landing with a thud. The Z's in front of us stopped and turned around and began to amble towards the truck. Warren jumped out of the tanker and stood by us.

"Is that Murphy?" She exclaimed.

"Who else is it gonna be?!" I grumbled, if we made it out of here, it was gonna be a hell of a long journey if he pulled crap like this all the time. It only took another moment before Garnett noticed the sparks flying from the broken truck, and the remnants of gas everywhere.

"Get out of here. Get out of here! Go! Come on!" Garnett pushed us away and we scurried far enough away to be safe. We watched as Warren tried to stay but Garnett quickly pushed her on. She came running over to us and we watched as Garnett approached the truck. He managed to get Murphy out of the truck and began running towards us. A Z stood in their way, covered in gas. Before it could even lunge for them, its head exploded. I looked around but couldn't see where 10k was, but I knew it was his doing. Garnett and Murphy barely made it out of the blast as the tanker exploded. I could feel the heat from here, and the smell was awful. Three burning Z's stumbled towards us, not even realising they were on fire.

Once back at the old truck – the one with barely any gas – Murphy dropped to his knees.

"I'm alive?" he grumbled. I passed him and rolled my eyes, mumbling an 'unfortunate' under my breath. I headed over to Addy and she handed my katana back, I smiled and sheathed it on my back.

"So, did we get the gas?" Murphy asked still sitting on his knees. I was bewildered that he would be this stupid, but it just got worse.

"Great. Who screwed that up?" He asked looking between us. Of course, we all looked to him with angered looks. He seemed to catch on.

"Oh. Sorry." He grumbled and then walked away.

"So, where's your friend?" Warren asked, I only just now noticed that the shifty man wasn't here anymore.

"He didn't make it. And he wasn't my friend." Cassandra informed.

"It's not like we needed him anyway." I pointed out, only to get a nudge from Garnett. I rolled my eyes and shrugged my shoulders before heading to the back of the truck. As I hopped in something bizarre happened, the phone booth next to us began to ring. I was surprised it still worked, and that someone would be calling one that was right next to us. Garnett headed over to the phone and picked it up. I simply sat on the back of the bed of the truck, my legs swinging off the side. Cassandra had come to stand by me. She was silent for a moment before speaking.

"Thanks." She murmured. I looked over to her with a small look of confusion. "For calling me over at the truck, to get me away from him." She spoke with a hint of disgust. I simply gave my shoulders a shrug.

"I didn't trust him, and I've learned to trust my gut feeling." I informed. She gave me a smile and let out a relived sigh. "And I know something else is going on." I pointed out. I had a suspicion those two knew each other, but I had no idea from where or when. He could have just been a dick of an ex-boyfriend, but that didn't feel right to me. I could see her tense beside me, but she didn't say anything.

"As long as it doesn't get us in any trouble. I won't say anything." I informed her, she then looked to me shocked, but hopeful. I gave her a smile.

"More puppies and kittens." Warrens voice broke our quality time as we saw a group of Z's heading our way. We began to get into the truck, Cassandra decided to sit with me in the bed of the truck. I wondered where 10k was, if he was even alive. I hoped he was, I liked him. Wait, what? Stop talking like that, getting attached in the apocalypse wasn't a good idea. I shook my head and gave my cheeks a little pat, trying to rid the girly thoughts from my head. Cassandra looked over to me with a concerned look but shrugged it off for now.

"Hey, look what I got." Addy chimed as she came to the back of the truck, holding her precious Z Whacker.

"Awesome, you got it back." I smiled, helping her into the back. She smiled giving her weapon a gentle hug. The three of us laughed for a moment.

"Wait! Here comes the kid!" I heard Doc's voice from in front of the truck. I was up on my feet and looking over the roof to see 10k jogging towards us with two containers of gas. I couldn't help the smile that lit up my face. Once we were all in the truck we began to head off, for god knows where.

"Excuse me, ma'am." I looked over to 10k and watched as Cassandra turned her stoic look to him.

"You have a finger in your hair." He informed, nodding towards the severed finger, that was indeed twisted in her hair. She pulled it out and quickly threw it over the side of the truck.

"Just another day in the zompocolypse." I laughed along with, Addy and Cassandra, noticing a slight chuckle from 10k. As bad as things had gone today, surely it couldn't get any worse.

Oh, how wrong I was.


End file.
